Home Port purchase gets 'no thanks' from Chilmark

Published: September 25, 2008

Chilmark voters had two and a half hours worth of patience for the debate Monday evening over a proposal to buy the Home Port restaurant property in Menemsha for $2 million. But, when the question was called, they had no patience for the deal.

The selectmen had replaced their proposal to buy the restaurant, tear it down, and construct a park. Instead, they proposed by amendment that the town buy the property, and then the selectmen would bring to another town meeting both a park plan and a proposal to lease the business to another restaurateur. The voters could choose. That amendment passed 111-97.

But, when the question came to authorize the borrowing for the project - for either project, really - the lurking naysayers, knowing that the funding article required a two-thirds vote in favor, had their way, 129 no, 93 yes. The question on funding the purchase was decided by Australian ballot.

The selectmen amended the original warrant article, which had proposed only to use the restaurant property as a park with water access to Menemsha Creek, to include the possibility of a lease that would continue the current use of the property, though in new hands. As selectman J.B. Riggs Parker told the very large crowd of voters, it was a response on the part of the selectmen to what they heard from voters who were reluctant to see the restaurant business, a fixture for decades, extinguished. Mr. Parker argued that the price offered the town had improved, down from $3 million three years ago when an earlier proposal that the town buy the property was rejected.

Mr. Parker called it a good deal and emphasized that nothing would happen, once the property was owned by the town, until town meeting had acted on a plan for its use. As his fellow selectmen and other voters did, he said the key advantage to the town purchase is that the town would then control the property. Mr. Parker negotiated the deal for the town.

All three selectmen endorsed the town purchase. Selectman Frank Fenner thanked Home Port owner Will Holtham for offering the town the opportunity, and argued that town ownership could lead to some amelioration of the parking problem in Menemsha. Mr. Holtham has allowed the town to use his property for daytime and off-season parking, but on summer evenings, when the restaurant is open, parking and traffic congestion is nightmarish. To give the devil his due, Mr. Fenner said, "the sunset contributes." Because Mr. Fenner operates the Menemsha Galley, across from the Home Port, he did not participate in the negotiations with Mr. Holtham over the offer before the voters Monday.

A Menemsha landmark, the Home Port is likely to find a private buyer.
Photo by Lynn Christoffers

Warren Doty, the third selectman, had opposed the purchase three years ago because the price was too high, he explained, but he described the $2 million price as "reasonable." Mr. Doty described himself as dedicated to the creation of additional water access to Menemsha Pond. Because the Home Port property exists as five lots - two on which the restaurant and parking exist, and three with frontage on Menemsha Creek, one of which has a dock - he argued that two of the waterfront lots, which would be included in the town's $2 million purchase, could be used for limited parking and kayak-canoe-skiff access to the creek. The third waterfront lot, the one with the dock, is not part of the deal and may be sold for more than $1 million to a non-Chilmarker looking for a dock for his boat.

Mr. Doty's enthusiasm for use of the waterfront for small boat access was countered by Rusty Walton, town conversation officer, who was skeptical that state officials would allow improvements for boat access to the marshland boundaries of the two lots. He added, referring to waterfront lots, whatever improvements might be allowed, and to the upland where the restaurant sits, "And if there's a hurricane, forget it, it'll be washed out with all the rest of Menemsha."

How many seats can Home Port have?

At Monday evening's meeting, some Chilmark voters wanted to know if the town board of health would allow a new owner of the restaurant, or a lessee from the town, to operate as Will Holtham, the Home Port's current owner, has done. No board of health members, if any were in attendance Monday, rose to answer the questions.

A series of letters from the board of health to Mr. Holtham, beginning in August of 2006, leave the question unresolved.

An August 14, 2006, letter from the board to the restaurant's owner acknowledged that the restaurant is permitted to seat a maximum of 150 diners, but other customers, the board notes, eat on a terrace outside. The letter, signed by the three members of the board, warns that the issue must be addressed before the next summer season.

On January 22, 2007, the board wrote to ask for information concerning the septic design and water meters at the restaurant to "determine on what basis the existing flow was approved."

On April 9, 2007, the board wrote Mr. Holtham, "It appears from the board of health records that the existing septic system is legally overextended for its current use." The board asked what the restaurant owner would do to bring his system into compliance and offered "to do whatever is necessary to keep your facility compliant" with state rules.

On June 20, 2007, the board wrote again concerning the septic system capacity at the Home Port, which was 3,500 gallons per day. "Although you have been granted a 150-seat restaurant capacity, this does exceed your current septic capacity by 50 seats. This does not include take-out service, porch service, or apartment bedrooms. Persons served at a raw bar are considered seated patrons and should be deducted from the 150 seats allowed."

Reached Tuesday, Jan Buhrman, a board of health member, said board members did not reply to questions Monday evening because no matter what the current practice is with regard to the Home Port, a new owner or new lessee operating a restaurant would need fresh approval from the board of health before opening. She said that after the spring of 2007, the board, taking into account the limited hours the restaurant operates and the seasonality of the business, allowed the Home Port to continue operating as it had been. She added that, in considering the application of a new operator, the board would consider new technical methods to satisfy state waste disposal requirements, when older, traditional septic systems do not allow for large seating desired by restaurant owners.

W. Sterling Wall, a Chilmark resident and employee of an engineering firm familiar with state permitting of structures in marsh lands, also argued that approval for use of the waterfront would be difficult to get. He also argued that the busy boat traffic in the creek and the swirling currents made it unsafe for inexperienced small boat operators.

Complicating the debate, Robert Nixon, a town voter and owner of the Beach Plum and Menemsha inns, told the meeting that he has offered to buy the restaurant from Mr. Holtham, to continue it as a seafood restaurant. Mr. Nixon called it a "backup offer" and delivered to town moderator Everett Poole a statement describing his interest in the restaurant property and the offer he had negotiated with Mr. Holtham.

The selectmen told voters that the cost of the borrowing would be minimal, $63 to $85 per year in additional taxes on a property assessed at $1 million. Several property owners with more extensive and valuable holdings, Allen Farm owner Clarissa Allen for instance, told the meeting that her share of the carrying costs for the loan would be a lot more than $63 dollars. Ms. Allen called the proposal "irresponsible, it's fluff." Over the 20-year life of the bond the town would float to buy the property, total interest expense would be approximately $892,000. The annual loss of tax revenue from the restaurant, under private ownership, would be about $5,600, based on the current assessment. The selectmen, who promised to negotiate what they called a "triple net lease," could not assure voters that there would be no additional costs, if the restaurant were leased to a private operator. Mr. Parker said the selectmen would attempt to find a tenant/operator whose lease payment would cover the carrying cost of the property.

Experienced restaurant operators among the voters said restaurants, especially those unable to serve alcohol (Chilmark is dry), are very difficult businesses to run profitably. Robert Skydell, who opened what is now called Offshore Ale Company in Oak Bluffs, said that success was even more difficult when the restaurant facility is leased. He said that successful restaurant operators often depend on the eventual sale of the business and real estate for a profitable conclusion to their restaurant ventures.

The debate ricocheted between voters who did not want the town to become a landlord, especially to a restaurant, others who demanded a reliable and complete forecast of potential costs, whether the land was leased or turned into a park, and others who cared less about how the property might be used but were determined that the town, by owning it, would be able to control its future disposition.

In the end, voters answered the question posed earlier by Rob Dietz, who asked, "Why would we consider spending this kind of money, when many feel the world is falling in?"

They decided they wouldn't. Voters indefinitely postponed a second article related to the Home Port purchase.

Voters authorized the selectmen to execute and enter into an agreement "granting, receiving and relating to access and utility easements for two parcels that form the new entrance to Middle Line Road. The town has finalized the purchase of one of the parcels but continues to negotiate with the owners of the other lot. Voters agreed to buy the lots at a cost of $500,000, at a special town meeting on March 3. The lots are intended to provide safer vehicle access to the Middle Line Road project, six rental units and six houses, to be built on 21 acres of heavily wooded town-owned land located about a half mile down Middle Line Road, a dirt road that intersects with Tabor House Road just north of the town landfill. The Martha's Vineyard Commission made safer access a condition of approval of the project.

Voters appropriated $55,000 to fund the Year-Round Rental Assistance program, which subsidizes property owners who forego higher summer rents in exchange for providing year-round rental housing.

Voters authorized selectmen to enter into a lease, or leases, in order to place a distributed antenna system (DAS) "hotel" at the landfill or near the police station. DAS relies on a series of radio access nodes connected to small antennas set on telephone poles, or poles erected for that specific purpose, to distribute cellular telephone signals. Although the range is considerably less, the DAS appeals to communities where a high conventional tower is unwelcome but wireless telephone service is poor. The "hotel" is used to house equipment that transmits and receives wireless signals.